MOVING INDOORS
Farmers’ Market, Makers Market vendors head to warmth of Uncle Sam Atrium for colder months
TROY, N.Y. >> Crafts people from the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District’s Makers Market joined vendors from the city’s Farmers’ Market Saturday inside the warm confines of the Uncle Sam Atrium for the first time this fall.
With a chilly, windy rain beating down outside on the sidewalks, Capital Region residents looking for fresh farm produce or handmade crafts strolled the building’s multi-floor lobbies where a mix of sights, sounds and smells engulfed the senses.
On the first floor one saw farm vendors selling bags of red and green ap- ples, mounds of potatoes, carrots, leeks, squash, kale, brussel sprouts and eggplant.
The farmers shared floor space with cheese, wine, honey, baked goods and homemade jam vendors. Squeezed in between all of them were a half dozen hot food vendors cooking up everything from breakfast to dinner.
Ross Warren’s Jamtastic’s table of homemade jams was busy as customers stopped by to sample three or four selections. Warren comes in each week from Ruppert, Vt. for the Farmer’s Market.
“We love the outdoor market but we’re glad to be inside,” he said. “Last Saturday was the first one
we’ve missed in six years. We knew it’d be cold. I had friends who went skiing.”
Spread out before him Saturday were 15 opened jam jars, a wide variety of his products.
Sampling a number of them was Troy resident Andrea Currie.
“We go to the Farmer’s Market every week in the summer,” she said. “We buy things like fruit, veggies, granola, bead, sausage, milk and hummus. Last week when it was outside it was cold, windy, and nasty.
“The best time for outside is late spring to late fall. It’s nice to inside today.”
Up on the second floor Sydney Wright and Abby Tolbert, two students at the University at Albany, were sampling the wines from Galway Rock Vineyard and Winery.
Displayed on the table were bottles of the winery’s regular ros, sparkling rosé, merlot Malbec and a red table wine.
“I like that it’s inside,” Tolbert said. “It’s more open and bright in here than I thought.”
“We’re wine people,” Wright said. “I like the sparking rosé and the small bottles are a good idea. I’ll be back to pick one up.”
Dylan Linderman had no problem with carrying a bottle of wine around with him. He tried all four samples and quickly bought a bottle of the merlot.
“I love merlot he said plus, it’s good to cook with,” he said stuffing the bottle into his satchel.
Steps away from the wine vendor’s table was a hallway filled with a dozen craft vendors who belong to the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District’s Makers Market.
The vendors’ tables displayed handmade jewelry, trinkets, baby play apparel, goat’s milk soaps, hand crafted knives, acrylic paintings, welded art pieces, and Afro-centric-bohemianinspired wearable and displayable artwork from Empress Bohemia.
Holding down a prime spot were Jamie and Josh Wallbank. They own and operate Collar City Candle, a sideline craft business for the two that produces colorful scented pillar or jar candles.
The business started with Josh Wallbank ran out on Christmas Eve 2004 to get Jamie one more present, a candle making kit geared for children. They two, now married, have been making candles ever since.
“We gave them away at first and then people wanted to buy them,” Jamie Wallbank said. “We started with craft fairs and began wholesaling to stores. I think people like that we just make small batches.
“You come back next week and we have something different.”
Jamie Wallbank said she was happy the Market moved inside.
“Coming inside is like the first day of school,” she laughed. “Then in the spring you can’t wait to go out again.”
Nearby was vendor Russ Palubniak of Chestertown, NY, the owner of Bear Pond Woodworking.
Displayed in front of him were rows of handcrafted knives, kitchenware, and writing and drawing instruments. Also displayed were several small, acrylic paintings of farm animals done by his wife Suzanne Rinas.
“We try to go where there’s a lot of people and this market is always busy,” Palubniak said. “Sometimes they have 15,000 people. I stayed home last week. Rain and wood don’t mix well.”
A few steps away was Bill Herrington and his Herrington Metal Works. Using the forge on his Herrington Farm he makes and welds metal horseshoes into art. From a recycling business which he also owns, he saves pieces from the farm machinery that he sells as scrap metal and uses them in his art.
“I’ve always welded things as part of the farm and I just moved into art,” he said. “I put a few things on Facebook and found that people liked them and just started selling them.”
Spread across his table were horseshoe holders for a single bottle of wine, holders for three bottles, a static art piece made from bolts and wrenches to form a scorpion, and several functional trivets made from his horseshoes.
“The trivet is the best seller I have,” Herrington said. “People like functional art.”